People find prescription drug costs unreasonable
August 22, 2015
The Kaiser Family Foundation released the results to an interesting survey this week. About three-quarters of the people polled felt that the cost of prescription drugs are unreasonably high. The cost of prescription drugs ranks above doctor visits as a financial burden (though less than health premiums and deductibles). 74% of those surveyed answered that they believe pharmaceutical companies are too concerned about making profits, as opposed to having the right balance between profits and helping people. Perhaps, then, we shouldn't be surprised that pharmaceutical companies had the largest percentage of respondents who had a very unfavorable view of them -- even more than oil companies.
Interestingly, while 78% of those surveyed think that generic prescription drugs are of the same quality as brand-name prescription drugs, only 52% asked for a generic drug when prescribed a brand-name drug. Perhaps a significant sector of those surveyed did not know they could ask for a generic version, or maybe they don't actually think that the cost of prescription drugs is unreasonably high. Respondents seem open to a variety of mechanism to address prescription drug costs, including allowing Americans to import drugs from Canada.